USAV Releases Preliminary 2010 World League Roster

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 1, 2010) – USA Volleyball has announced the preliminary 22-man roster that it has submitted to the FIVB for the 2010 World League competition.

The roster will be cut to 19 players by April 30. From that 19-man roster, 12-14 players may be chosen to play at each World League weekend (14 players are allowed as long as two of them are liberos).

U.S. Men’s National Team Head Coach Alan Knipe (Huntington Beach, Calif.) will be coaching the World League team for the second year. In 2009, the U.S. Men’s Volleyball Team, ranked second in the world, won its World League pool and went on to finish sixth in the Final Round.

“Our team gained a lot of valuable experiences last year during World League." Knipe said. “We are looking forward to the opportunity to build on those experiences during World League this summer.

“Chances are many members of that team will also compete for us at the 2010 FIVB World Championship in September and October.”

The FIVB World League is an exciting elite men’s volleyball competition in which the world’s best teams are divided into four pools and play for six straight weekends from June 4 to July 11. Winners from each pool will qualify for the final round on July 21-25 in Cordoba, Argentina, along with the host country and a pick from among the second-place teams in pool play.

The total World League prize purse is more than $20 million, with the winning team collecting a prize of more than $1 million.

U.S. fans can watch Team USA play live in World League matches in Concord, N.C. (June 18-19 vs. Egypt), Hoffman Estates, Ill. (June 25-26 vs. Finland) and Wichita, Kan. (July 9-10 vs. Russia).